Home / Other News / Chris Grayling invited to ride a bike in London after suggesting cyclists “cause a problem for road users”(!)

Chris Grayling invited to ride a bike in London after suggesting cyclists “cause a problem for road users”(!)

road.cc) Constituent of transport secretary Chris Grayling invites him for bike ride in London after minister accuses cyclists of ignoring road signs & running red lightsSimon MacMichael December 7 2016 A man who lives in the Epsom & Ewell constituency of cabinet minister Chris Grayling has invited the secretary of state for transport to come… [Read More]

A man who lives in the Epsom & Ewell constituency of cabinet minister Chris Grayling has invited the secretary of state for transport to come for a bike ride in London and see first-hand the conditions cyclists have to encounter on the capital’s streets.

Andrew Smith extended the invitation after the Tory politician claimed in an interview with the London Evening Standard that cycling infrastructure in the capital was poorly designed, and criticised cyclists for ignoring road signs and traffic signals.

The MP, who says he has not himself cycled since he was a student at Cambridge in the early 1980s, told the newspaper: “I don’t think all the cycle lanes in London have been designed as well as they should have been.

“There are places where they perhaps cause too much of a problem for road users and they could have been designed in a smarter way.

“As transport secretary, I can only watch, because it is a matter for the mayor.”

“Cyclists are unwilling to obey road signs”

He went on: “Motorists in London have got to be immensely careful of cyclists.

“At the same time, cyclists in London are too often unwilling to obey the road signs. I’ve seen regular examples of people who just bolt through red lights.

“The growth of cycling is a good thing. But good cycling is responsible cycling.”

The minister admitted however that he had in the past been caught speeding and also confessed to using a mobile phone at the wheel “many years ago” but is now “trying hard as transport secretary not to get caught doing anything I am not supposed to do.”